The evolution of active galactic nuclei in clusters of galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey

The DES Collaboration

doi:10.1093/mnras/stw2824

The evolution of active galactic nuclei in clusters of galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey

The DES Collaboration

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Abstract

The correlation between active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and environment provides important clues to AGN fuelling and the relationship of black hole growth to galaxy evolution. In this paper, we analyse the fraction of galaxies in clusters hosting AGN as a function of redshift and cluster richness for X-ray-detected AGN associated with clusters of galaxies in Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data. The present sample includes 33 AGNs with L_X > 10⁴³ erg s^-1 in non-central, host galaxies with luminosity greater than 0.5L_* from a total sample of 432 clusters in the redshift range of 0.1 < z < 0.95. Analysis of the present sample reveals that the AGN fraction in red-sequence cluster members has a strong positive correlation with redshift such that the AGN fraction increases by a factor of ~8 from low to high redshift, and the fraction of cluster galaxies hosting AGN at high redshifts is greater than the low-redshift fraction at 3.6σ. In particular, the AGN fraction increases steeply at the highest redshifts in our sample at z > 0.7. This result is in good agreement with previous work and parallels the increase in star formation in cluster galaxies over the same redshift range. However, the AGN fraction in clusters is observed to have no significant correlation with cluster mass. Future analyses with DES Year 1 through Year 3 data will be able to clarify whether AGN activity is correlated to cluster mass and will tightly constrain the relationship between cluster AGN populations and redshift.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2531-2539
Number of pages	9
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	465
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2824
State	Published - Mar 1 2017

Funding

EB would like to acknowledge support from the Julia Packard SRE and the UCSC STEM Diversity Program. This material is based upon the work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics program under Award Number DE-SC-0013541. This research has made use of data obtained from the Chandra Data Archive and software provided by the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) in the application package CIAO. Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, theMinistry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology FacilitiesCouncil of theUnitedKingdom, theHigher Education Funding Council for England, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Funda\u00E7\u00E3o Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo \u00E0 Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00EDfico e Tecnol\u00F3gico and the Minist\u00E9rio da Ci\u00EAncia, Tecnologia e Inova\u00E7\u00E3o, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey. The Collaborating Institutions are Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Cambridge, Centro de Investigaciones Energ\u00E9ticas, Medioambientales y Tecnol\u00F3gicas-Madrid, the University of Chicago, University College London, the DES-Brazil Consortium, the University of Edinburgh, the Eidgen\u00F6ssische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Z\u00FCrich, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Institut de Ci\u00E8ncies de l'Espai (IEEC/CSIC), the Institut de F\u00EDsica d'Altes Energies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Ludwig-Maximilians Universit \u00E4t M\u00FCnchen and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, the University of Michigan, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the University of Nottingham, The Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of Sussex, TexasA&MUniversity, and the OzDESMembership Consortium. The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number AST-1138766. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2012-39559, ESP2013-48274, FPA2013-47986, and Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa SEV-2012-0234. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478. We are grateful for the extraordinary contributions of our CTIO colleagues and the DECam Construction, Commissioning and Science Verification teams in achieving the excellent instrument and telescope conditions that have made this work possible. The success of this project also relies critically on the expertise and dedication of the DES Data Management group.

Keywords

Galaxies: active
X-rays: galaxies
X-rays: galaxies: clusters

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10.1093/mnras/stw2824

Cite this

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title = "The evolution of active galactic nuclei in clusters of galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey",

abstract = "The correlation between active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and environment provides important clues to AGN fuelling and the relationship of black hole growth to galaxy evolution. In this paper, we analyse the fraction of galaxies in clusters hosting AGN as a function of redshift and cluster richness for X-ray-detected AGN associated with clusters of galaxies in Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data. The present sample includes 33 AGNs with LX > 1043 erg s-1 in non-central, host galaxies with luminosity greater than 0.5L* from a total sample of 432 clusters in the redshift range of 0.1 < z < 0.95. Analysis of the present sample reveals that the AGN fraction in red-sequence cluster members has a strong positive correlation with redshift such that the AGN fraction increases by a factor of ~8 from low to high redshift, and the fraction of cluster galaxies hosting AGN at high redshifts is greater than the low-redshift fraction at 3.6σ. In particular, the AGN fraction increases steeply at the highest redshifts in our sample at z > 0.7. This result is in good agreement with previous work and parallels the increase in star formation in cluster galaxies over the same redshift range. However, the AGN fraction in clusters is observed to have no significant correlation with cluster mass. Future analyses with DES Year 1 through Year 3 data will be able to clarify whether AGN activity is correlated to cluster mass and will tightly constrain the relationship between cluster AGN populations and redshift.",

keywords = "Galaxies: active, X-rays: galaxies, X-rays: galaxies: clusters",

author = "{The DES Collaboration} and E. Bufanda and D. Hollowood and Jeltema, {T. E.} and Rykoff, {E. S.} and E. Rozo and P. Martini and Abbott, {T. M.C.} and Abdalla, {F. B.} and S. Allam and M. Banerji and A. Benoit-L{\'e}vy and E. Bertin and D. Brooks and {Carnero Rosell}, A. and {Carrasco Kind}, M. and J. Carretero and Cunha, {C. E.} and {da Costa}, {L. N.} and S. Desai and Diehl, {H. T.} and Dietrich, {J. P.} and Evrard, {A. E.} and {Fausti Neto}, A. and B. Flaugher and J. Frieman and Gerdes, {D. W.} and Goldstein, {D. A.} and D. Gruen and Gruendl, {R. A.} and G. Gutierrez and K. Honscheid and James, {D. J.} and K. Kuehn and N. Kuropatkin and M. Lima and Maia, {M. A.G.} and Marshall, {J. L.} and P. Melchior and R. Miquel and Mohr, {J. J.} and R. Ogando and Plazas, {A. A.} and Romer, {A. K.} and P. Rooney and E. Sanchez and B. Santiago and V. Scarpine and I. Sevilla-Noarbe and Smith, {R. C.} and E. Suchyta",

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doi = "10.1093/mnras/stw2824",

language = "English",

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T1 - The evolution of active galactic nuclei in clusters of galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey

AU - The DES Collaboration

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AU - Hollowood, D.

AU - Jeltema, T. E.

AU - Rykoff, E. S.

AU - Rozo, E.

AU - Martini, P.

AU - Abbott, T. M.C.

AU - Abdalla, F. B.

AU - Allam, S.

AU - Banerji, M.

AU - Benoit-Lévy, A.

AU - Bertin, E.

AU - Brooks, D.

AU - Carnero Rosell, A.

AU - Carrasco Kind, M.

AU - Carretero, J.

AU - Cunha, C. E.

AU - da Costa, L. N.

AU - Desai, S.

AU - Diehl, H. T.

AU - Dietrich, J. P.

AU - Evrard, A. E.

AU - Fausti Neto, A.

AU - Flaugher, B.

AU - Frieman, J.

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AU - Honscheid, K.

AU - James, D. J.

AU - Kuehn, K.

AU - Kuropatkin, N.

AU - Lima, M.

AU - Maia, M. A.G.

AU - Marshall, J. L.

AU - Melchior, P.

AU - Miquel, R.

AU - Mohr, J. J.

AU - Ogando, R.

AU - Plazas, A. A.

AU - Romer, A. K.

AU - Rooney, P.

AU - Sanchez, E.

AU - Santiago, B.

AU - Scarpine, V.

AU - Sevilla-Noarbe, I.

AU - Smith, R. C.

AU - Suchyta, E.

PY - 2017/3/1

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N2 - The correlation between active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and environment provides important clues to AGN fuelling and the relationship of black hole growth to galaxy evolution. In this paper, we analyse the fraction of galaxies in clusters hosting AGN as a function of redshift and cluster richness for X-ray-detected AGN associated with clusters of galaxies in Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data. The present sample includes 33 AGNs with LX > 1043 erg s-1 in non-central, host galaxies with luminosity greater than 0.5L* from a total sample of 432 clusters in the redshift range of 0.1 < z < 0.95. Analysis of the present sample reveals that the AGN fraction in red-sequence cluster members has a strong positive correlation with redshift such that the AGN fraction increases by a factor of ~8 from low to high redshift, and the fraction of cluster galaxies hosting AGN at high redshifts is greater than the low-redshift fraction at 3.6σ. In particular, the AGN fraction increases steeply at the highest redshifts in our sample at z > 0.7. This result is in good agreement with previous work and parallels the increase in star formation in cluster galaxies over the same redshift range. However, the AGN fraction in clusters is observed to have no significant correlation with cluster mass. Future analyses with DES Year 1 through Year 3 data will be able to clarify whether AGN activity is correlated to cluster mass and will tightly constrain the relationship between cluster AGN populations and redshift.

AB - The correlation between active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and environment provides important clues to AGN fuelling and the relationship of black hole growth to galaxy evolution. In this paper, we analyse the fraction of galaxies in clusters hosting AGN as a function of redshift and cluster richness for X-ray-detected AGN associated with clusters of galaxies in Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data. The present sample includes 33 AGNs with LX > 1043 erg s-1 in non-central, host galaxies with luminosity greater than 0.5L* from a total sample of 432 clusters in the redshift range of 0.1 < z < 0.95. Analysis of the present sample reveals that the AGN fraction in red-sequence cluster members has a strong positive correlation with redshift such that the AGN fraction increases by a factor of ~8 from low to high redshift, and the fraction of cluster galaxies hosting AGN at high redshifts is greater than the low-redshift fraction at 3.6σ. In particular, the AGN fraction increases steeply at the highest redshifts in our sample at z > 0.7. This result is in good agreement with previous work and parallels the increase in star formation in cluster galaxies over the same redshift range. However, the AGN fraction in clusters is observed to have no significant correlation with cluster mass. Future analyses with DES Year 1 through Year 3 data will be able to clarify whether AGN activity is correlated to cluster mass and will tightly constrain the relationship between cluster AGN populations and redshift.

KW - Galaxies: active

KW - X-rays: galaxies

KW - X-rays: galaxies: clusters

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DO - 10.1093/mnras/stw2824

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JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 3

ER -

The evolution of active galactic nuclei in clusters of galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey

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